Definition and verification of a set of reusable reference architectures for hybrid vehicle development

Current concerns regarding climate change and energy security have resulted in an increasing demand for low carbon vehicles, including: more efficient internal combustion engine vehicles, alternative fuel vehicles, electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. Unlike traditional internal combustion engine vehicles and electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles contain a minimum of two energy storage systems. These are required to deliver power through a complex powertrain which must combine these power flows electrically or mechanically (or both), before torque can be delivered to the wheel. Three distinct types of hybrid vehicles exist, series hybrids, parallel hybrids and compound hybrids. Each type of hybrid presents a unique engineering challenge. Also, within each hybrid type there exists a wide range of configurations of components, in size and type. The emergence of this new family of hybrid vehicles has necessitated a new component to vehicle development, the Vehicle Supervisory Controller (VSC). The VSC must determine and deliver driver torque demand, dividing the delivery of that demand from the multiple energy storage systems as a function of efficiencies and capacities. This control component is not commonly a standalone entity in traditional internal combustion vehicles and therefore presents an opportunity to apply a systems engineering approach to hybrid vehicle systems and VSC control system development. A key non-­‐functional requirement in systems engineering is reusability. A common method for maximising system reusability is a Reference Architecture (RA). This is an abstraction of the minimum set of shared system features (structure, functions, interactions and behaviour) that can be applied to a number of similar but distinct system deployments. It is argued that the employment of RAs in hybrid vehicle development would reduce VSC development time and cost. This Thesis expands this research to determine if one RA is extendable to all hybrid vehicle types and combines the scientific method with the scenario testing method to verify the reusability of RAs by demonstration. A set of hypotheses are posed: Can one RA represent all hybrid types? If not, can a minimum number of RAs be defined which represents all hybrid types? These hypotheses are tested by a set of scenarios. The RA is used as a template for a vehicle deployment (a scenario), which is then tested numerically, thereby verifying that the RA is valid for this type of vehicle. This Thesis determines that two RAs are required to represent the three hybrid vehicle types. One RA is needed for series hybrids, and the second RA covers parallel and compound hybrids. This is done at a level of abstraction which is high enough to avoid system specific features but low enough to incorporate detailed control functionality. One series hybrid is deployed using the series RA into simulation, hardware and onto a vehicle for testing. This verifies that the series RA is valid for this type of vehicle. The parallel RA is used to develop two sub-­‐types of parallel hybrids and one compound hybrid. This research has been conducted with industrial partners who value, and are employing, the findings of this research in their hybrid vehicle development programs

Identification of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a key chemical species that is found in a wide range of planetary atmospheres. In the context of exoplanets, CO2 is an indicator of the metal enrichment (that is, elements heavier than helium, also called ‘metallicity’), and thus the formation processes of the primary atmospheres of hot gas giants. It is also one of the most promising species to detect in the secondary atmospheres of terrestrial exoplanets. Previous photometric measurements of transiting planets with the Spitzer Space Telescope have given hints of the presence of CO2, but have not yielded definitive detections owing to the lack of unambiguous spectroscopic identification. Here we present the detection of CO2 in the atmosphere of the gas giant exoplanet WASP-39b from transmission spectroscopy observations obtained with JWST as part of the Early Release Science programme. The data used in this study span 3.0–5.5 micrometres in wavelength and show a prominent CO2 absorption feature at 4.3 micrometres (26-sigma significance). The overall spectrum is well matched by one-dimensional, ten-times solar metallicity models that assume radiative–convective–thermochemical equilibrium and have moderate cloud opacity. These models predict that the atmosphere should have water, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide in addition to CO2, but little methane. Furthermore, we also tentatively detect a small absorption feature near 4.0 micrometres that is not reproduced by these models

Regenerative braking strategies, vehicle safety and stability control systems : critical use-case proposals

The sustainable development of vehicle propulsion systems that have mainly focused on reduction of fuel consumption (i.e. CO2 emission) has led, not only to the development of systems connected with combustion processes but also to legislation and testing procedures. In recent years, the low carbon policy has made hybrid vehicles and fully electric vehicles (H/EVs) popular. The main virtue of these propulsion systems is their ability to restore some of the expended energy from kinetic movement, e.g. the braking process. Consequently new research and testing methods for H/EVs are currently being developed. This especially concerns the critical ‘use-cases’ for functionality tests within dynamic events for both virtual simulations, as well as real-time road tests. The use-case for conventional vehicles for numerical simulations and road tests are well established. However, the wide variety of tests and their great number (close to a thousand) creates a need for selection, in the first place, and the creation of critical use-cases suitable for testing H/EVs in both virtual and real-world environments. It is known that a marginal improvement in the regenerative braking ratio can significantly improve the vehicle range and, therefore, the economic cost of its operation. In modern vehicles, vehicle dynamics control systems play the principal role in safety, comfort and economic operation. Unfortunately, however, the existing standard road test scenarios are insufficient for H/EVs. Sector knowledge suggests that there are currently no agreed tests scenarios to fully investigate the effects of brake blending between conventional and regenerative braking as well as the regenerative braking interaction with active driving safety systems (ADSS). The paper presents seven manoeuvres, which are considered to be suitable and highly informative for the development and examination of H/EVs with regenerative braking capability. The critical manoeuvres presented are considered to be appropriate for examination of the regenerative braking mode according to ADSS. The manoeuvres are also important for investigation of regenerative braking system properties/functionalities that are specified by the legal requirements concerning H/EVs braking systems. The last part of this paper shows simulation results for one of the proposed manoeuvres that explicitly shows the usefulness of the manoeuvre

A mechanism for the extension and unfolding of parallel telomeric G-quadruplexes by human telomerase at single-molecule resolution

30 pags., 10 figs., 1 tab.Telomeric G-quadruplexes (G4) were long believed to form a protective structure at telomeres, preventing their extension by the ribonucleoprotein telomerase. Contrary to this belief, we have previously demonstrated that parallel-stranded conformations of telomeric G4 can be extended by human and ciliate telomerase. However, a mechanistic understanding of the interaction of telomerase with structured DNA remained elusive. Here, we use single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) microscopy and bulk-phase enzymology to propose a mechanism for the resolution and extension of parallel G4 by telomerase. Binding is initiated by the RNA template of telomerase interacting with the G-quadruplex; nucleotide addition then proceeds to the end of the RNA template. It is only through the large conformational change of translocation following synthesis that the G-quadruplex structure is completely unfolded to a linear product. Surprisingly, parallel G4 stabilization with either small molecule ligands or by chemical modification does not always inhibit G4 unfolding and extension by telomerase. These data reveal that telomerase is a parallel G-quadruplex resolvase.Cancer Council NSW RG 11-07 Tracy M Bryan, Cancer Institute NSW Aaron Lavel Moye, Australian Research Council FL140100027 Antoine M van Oijen, Ernest and Piroska Major Foundation Scott B Cohen, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Masad J Damha Centre of Excellence for Innovation in Chemistry PERCH-CIC Siritron Samosorn Research Unit of Natural Products and Organic Synthesis for Drug Discovery NPOS 405/2560 Siritron Samosorn Cancer Council NSW RG 16-10 Tracy M Brya

Fluorescent probes for G-quadruplex structures

Mounting evidence supports the presence of biologically relevant G-quadruplexes in single-cell organisms, but the existence of endogenous G-quadruplex structures in mammalian cells remains highly controversial. This is due, in part, to the common misconception that DNA and RNA molecules are passive information carriers with relatively little structural or functional complexity. For those working in the field, however, the lack of available tools for characterizing DNA structures in vivo remains a major limitation to addressing fundamental questions about structure-function relationships of nucleic acids. In this review, we present progress towards the direct detection of G-quadruplex structures by using small molecules and modified oligonucleotides as fluorescent probes. While most development has focused on cell-permeable probes that selectively bind to G-quadruplex structures with high affinity, these same probes can induce G-quadruplex folding, thereby making the native conformation of the DNA or RNA molecule (i.e., in the absence of probe) uncertain. For this reason, modified oligonucleotides and fluorescent base analogues that serve as "internal" fluorescent probes are presented as an orthogonal means for detecting conformational changes, without necessarily perturbing the equilibria between G-quadruplex, single-stranded, and duplex DNA. The major challenges and motivation for the development of fluorescent probes for G-quadruplex structures are presented, along with a summary of the key photophysical, biophysical, and biological properties of reported examples